Ed Carpenter can no longer be considered a “sleeper” for oval races. Or for that matter, season finales.

The eponymous team principal and driver of the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet seeks his third straight curtain-closer victory in the IZOD IndyCar Series, having won at Kentucky in 2011 and Auto Club Speedway in Fontana a year ago.

“My first win at Kentucky was the most exciting because I finally won an IndyCar Series race,” Carpenter said in the team’s advance release. “But last year’s Fontana win was the most gratifying since it was my team and we were in our first year of operation. It meant a lot to go up against the big teams like Ganassi, Penske and Andretti and win the race with our new one-car team.”

He’s back at Fontana this year (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN) to defend his MAVTV 500 crown and give the team a lift after the travails of its transporter fire en route back from a test there last month.

“We had a massive clean-up job to do in just a few days after the fire,” he said. “But our team really dug in and spent extra hours washing and cleaning everything we had in the trailer. Sure, we lost a few items in the fire but we were able to save a lot of things. The IndyCar community really helped us too.”

Between running the high line and dealing with the expected fall-off in tires over the course of a stint, Carpenter knows there is more to achieving success now with this car, at this track, than what used to be the case with the previous Dallara chassis at 1.5-mile ovals.

“That’s the beauty of the Fontana racetrack; there are a lot of options,” he said. “It’s up to us and the other teams to figure out how to make the car work for the best shot at winning the race. It’s a long race with 250 laps and your team must be good in pit stops, making the proper adjustments as the race develops and being able read the track surface as the sun goes down and the lights go on.”

His sponsor Fuzzy’s Vodka sponsors Victory Lane in Fontana. Carpenter winning would be one positive achievement for them; Fuzzy’s is also offering a $250,000 bonus to either Tony Kanaan or Scott Dixon if they were to win on Saturday night. Kanaan and Dixon have the wins in the first two legs of the Fuzzy’s Vodka Triple Crown, held at Indianapolis and Pocono earlier this year.